This table shows the number of permits remaining for both overnight hikes and day hikes on the Main Mount Whitney Trail. (and day hikes on the non-trail Mountaineers Route.) During the summer hiking season, you can see what is currently available at the online permit website, Recreation.gov.

Check Recreation.gov for remaining permits (A=Avilable, R=all reserved). If someone cancels a permit more than two days before, it will show up as Available on the start date of the permit returned. Here are the links for the available slots. Click "Update Availability" to see the 2-week display of available permits:Mt Whitney Trail Day Use availabilityMt Whitney Trail Overnight availability

If someone with a reserved permit becomes a no-show (they don't show up and don't phone in before the deadline, which is noon the day before for day hikes, and 10 AM on the entry date for overnight permits), then their permit becomes available to people walking into the Visitor Center and asking. The no-shows become available at 11 AM, (the day before for day hikes, and current day for overnighters).

The Unused columns below show the number of permits left over after all permit activity has completed for that date. It is the difference between the permit quota and the count of permits issued for the day, and includes the cancelled and no-show permits that were not re-issued to walk-in people.

I didn't do the lottery last year, but did reserve a day hike permit so that I could pick the permit up 2 days before the hike. Once I picked up the permit, I drove to Onion Valley to camp, spent two nights there, then drove to the MW trailhead. Having a reserved permit meant I didn't have to drive to Onion Valley one day, drive to the visitor's center the next day (i..e, day before the hike) to wait in line for an unused permit, drive back to Onion Valley to spend the night, then drive to the trailhead.

The numbers below are a copy of the Unused Permits numbers above, with additional numbers added from two Inyo N.F. documents showing: Cancellations and NoShows -- Day Use pdfOvernight

Text from the two documents: Cancelled Early: ("CE" below)Group size was reduced or canceled more than one day before the entry date. Space returns to the reservation calendar at a random time within 24 hours and could be reserved online at www.recreation.gov

Cancellations: ("CL" below)Group size was reduced or canceled one day before, or day of the trip entry date. Space is available for walk in requests.

No Shows: (Overnight permits) ("NS" below)Visitor did not confirm to hold permit for late arrival and failed to pick up the permit before the deadline. Space from no shows is available for walk in permit requests at 11:00am on the entry date.No Shows (Day Use permits)The deadline is one day before the entry date to allow day hikers a full day (early start time) to complete their hike. Space from no shows is available for walk in permit requests at 2:00 pm one day before the entry date.

I'm writing this for hikers looking to climb Whitney after the main lottery is completed and they don't have a permit.My wife and I decided to climb Whitney in late April of 2014. We summited over Labor Day weekend. We knew that we were taking our chances trying to get an overnight permit, but did a ton of research on improving our chances. This board was invaluable to our research efforts.

I was directed to this board when I types into my browser “Unused Whitney Permits.” This led me to the Whitney Zone and a recap year by year of the unused permits. The information starts being tracked in 2007 and is currently tracked through August 2014. It tracks unused permits by date and how many went unclaimed.

We were looking for a weekend in either August or early September. I took all of the information and dropped it into a spreadsheet to see if any weekends in that time frame stood out as being potentially better than others for claiming an unused permit.

For us Labor Day weekend appeared to be the best option. Not only because we had several days to claim a permit and start the hike, but because that weekend without exception had the most unused permits. Perhaps, it was because so many are in “back to school” mode.

Our packs were ready to go. The Thursday before Labor Day weekend came around, I called the Eastern Sierra Interagency Center in Lone Pine at noon, to see if there were any unused permits still available for the next day. They told me to check back around 4:00 PM. I did check back at 4:00 and they told me there were some available and my best shot at claiming them would be to be at the center at 8:00 AM to claim them. We live in San Diego, so the drive to Lone Pine is just over 4 hours. We hit the road at 5:00 PM and had to overnight in Ridgecrest, which is an hour south of Lone Pine. We had to do this because all of the hotel rooms in Lone Pine were full. Actually, the place we stayed, Springhill Suites, was very nice and comfortable.

We were at the center before 8:00. By 8:00 there were probably 20 people gathered waiting for the ranger to tell us what to do next. Promptly at 8:00 the doors opened and the ranger asked that those looking to get an unused permit for their group select a blind lottery number. There were 11 numbers drawn. My number was 8. I was not feeling too confident about our chances.

We got our turn at the counter in about 10 minutes and we were successful getting the overnight permit. The day hikes are more popular than overnights and is reflected in the nearly 2:1 ratio of available permits. We were on the trail by 10:00AM and summited the next day.